Cucumber – a source of health and beauty

Today I am writing about cucumbers – those common, larger cucumbers that we mainly use in salads. In spite of the fact that the summer (and with it this year’s cucumber season) is lowly ending, my cucumbers are still producing. Maybe it’s because of the hot summer, or the fact that I sow them pretty late this year due to germination problems. I hope that these couple of lines will serve as an inspiration for anyone who hasn’t already to try and grow their own cucumbers next year.Continue Reading

Buckwheat tarragon swiss roll

I first tasted the buckwheat swiss roll at Aljaž’s grandparents. It was Aljaž’s grandmother who introduced me to this dessert and I was blown away by it’s fluffyness and tastiness. When I decided to recreate this excellent dessert, I was thinking about possible changes and supplements, and I remembered the tarragon – a great aromatic herb that is wildly growing in the corner of the garden.Continue Reading

Raspberry Mint Smoothie

The raspberry season is in full swing, so it would really be a shame not to make some excellent raspberry mint smoothie from this excellent berries.
Regardless of whether you have your own raspberry patch at home and can enjoy homegrown raspberries or if you buy them, I would like to encourage you to consider storing your excess raspberries for the use in colder months. It’s so easy to store your harvested or bought raspberries. The easiest way is to simply freeze them and take them out of the freezer when needed.

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The Healing Power of Tarragon

Who hasn’t heard of tarragon – aromatic culinary herb that is mostly used for baking sweets. The most common use of it in Slovenia is as a filling for potica, which is a traditional Slovenian pastry. Not a lot of people are aware of its healing properties and the use of it in tea mixtures or as a dietary supplement. It contains a lot of vitamins, potassium and other nutrients that have a proven positive effect on our health. There are two different varieties of tarragon: French and Russian (or Siberian). French variety is smaller, has tinnier leaves, seldom blossoms and is more aromatic than its Russian brother. Russian variety can grow up to 1,5m in height, has somewhat bigger leaves, blossoms annually and is hardier than the French variety.Continue Reading

Elderberry and Pear Jam

Over 10 years ago my parents have taken over an abandoned homestead where my grandmother was born. With exception of a small plateau where used to be three little fields and now serves as goat pasture, the whole homestead is located on the hillside. No matter where you want to go, there will be a steep road leading you there. On the hillside above the old house is an old orchard with heritage apple, pear and cherry fruit trees that were grafted to seedlings and therefore have a very tall growth.Continue Reading

Lemon catnip

You’ve probably heard of catnip (Nepeta cataria) which is loved by cats. During my research of (what I thought to be) an unknown mint variety that is growing in the edge of my garden since the beginning of time I found out that if was actually lemon catnip (Nepeta cataria ssp. citriodora) which is pretty common in Slovenian gardens and commonly mistaken for lemon balm. Unlike real catnip, her lemon sister doesn’t attract cats and has a pleasant citrus-minty smell. While catnip’s blossoms are purple-blue color, lemon catnip’s blossoms are white.Continue Reading

Homemade tomato sauce

This year I was finally able to produce bigger quantities of tomatoes (I wrote a little bit about me growing tomatoes in containers right here). Because I seemed that we won’t be able to eat it all fresh I decided to make some homemade tomato sauce. Because I didn’t really have a tried and true recipe I decided to experiment a bit and I’m very happy with the result so I decided to share the recipe here in case someone else might find it useful. 🙂Continue Reading

Shrek smoothie

And here we go – my first 2€ smoothie recipe. The series is opened by Shrek smoothie which is named after the ogre from the well know animated movie. Shrek smoothie has become one of my favorite ways to disguise spinach for small (and adult) children. Because I don’t have kids I test my recipes on Aljaz who is pretty picky especially when it comes to green vegetables in all shapes and sizes. His comment about this smoothie was: “It great because you have to get through the healthy part (green) to get to the good (gray) and the best (brown) part.”.Continue Reading